


and, darling, we can still be happy after all

by Anonymous



Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, But It's Worth It When It Happens, Eventual Relationships, Forbidden Love, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, It takes a while to get there, M/M, Mpreg, Slow Build, Slow Burn, stick with me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-03-29 08:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13923042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: In a world where carriers make up 15% of the population, Everett is one of those unlucky men who can bear children. He never believe his carrier status would ever be a problem, but after the end of his relationship with T'Challa, he finds himself pregnant, and that is where Everett's story begins.





	1. the end of it all

“T’Challa, wait,” Everett calls out, his voice a breathy whisper against the rustling winds, but it is still loud enough to make T’Challa turn back in their room, his jaw set in a tight frown, withhis hands hanging limp by his sides.

“I must go,” he says in a pained voice. His eyes are colored with the deepest shade of regret and hurt that Everett has ever seen in his King ever since the start of their affair.

“I know.” His lips curl into a half-smile. “Stay with me just for a few more minutes?” 

T’Challa looks at him and then shakes his head. “I cannot. If I stay with you, I will never leave. I cannot afford to do that. I’m Wakanda’s King and they expect me to marry, that I cannot do if I’m with you, according to their standards.”

Everett pulls his robe tightly against his body, as he moves toward his King. “I _know_ ,” he says in a small voice. “I never expected you to marry me. I never wanted that from you. All I ever wanted was to be with you, and you’ve given me that chance, and I’m so damn grateful for that.”

“I tried,” T’Challa begins, taking Everett cold hand in his, stroking it ever so gently. “I tried to make the elders see reason, but they cannot see past the fact that you’re a foreigner. This is how we must part ways, Everett. There is simply no other way.”

Everett brings his other hand around and caresses T’Challa, drawing lines away by doing so. “Don’t. We both knew what we were getting ourselves in when we decide to pursue a relationship. That doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

“I wish there were another way.” T’Challa closes his eyes, letting the unshed tears rest beneath his lashes. “But there isn’t. This is where we must part ways.”

“Wouldn’t you stay with me just for the few minutes? So that I can hold you, kiss you, love you _just_ for five more minutes?”

T’Challa opens his eyes and chuckles; a chuckle with no mirth to it. “No. If I stay with you for even a minute longer than I allowed myself, I know I will never find the courage to leave your side.”

“Allow me one last kiss then.” His eyes soften. “ _Please_. That’s all I’m asking you for.”

T’Challa looks at him and after some thinking, nods. He gives Everett one last look before he closes the distance between them. Lips touch lips, with the sweetest bitter honey ever tasted, and that makes it even harder for them to pull away, but they find the courage, and mark the end of a love that will always live in the both of them, but will never go any farther than that.

“I will always love you. I hope you find someone deserving of you, someone who can love and care for you more than I ever could,” T’Challa says, hurt and pain prevalent in his voice mixed with bitterness and frustration. 

“I’ve already found him, and lost him all the same.” Everett laughs, a laugh lacking humor of any kind.“But a part of him will always remain with me.”

T’Challa gives him one last smile before he leaves the room for good. 

“But I will always have a part of you with me,” he says softly, rubbing his stomach absentmindedly, not realizing just how much his life is going to change in just a few short months. But for now, he just lost his love, and he mourns for a love he has always taken granted ever since the start.

 

 


	2. the concern of it all

“Everett?” Sharon gently rubs circles into the small of Everett’s back as he vomits violently into the toilet. “Who’s the father?”

Everett looks up at her through glossy eyes. “Father? What are you talking about?” His hands tremble by his side, but that tremble doesn’t make it to his voice.

“Everrett,” she says in a soft voice. “I know.”

He blinks. “Know what, Sharon?” He straightens up and flushes the toilet. “I just ate something bad. That’s all.”

“You’re a carrier,” she puts it out there like it’s public knowledge, and to a degree, it is, but only to Everett’s close friends and family, and _T’Challa_. Sharon doesn’t fall in any of those categories. 

He pulls himself up on the floor with her help of course. “Suppose I was, what makes you think I’d be…pregnant?”

“The vomiting, the tiredness, the weight gain,” she points out, her hand falling off his back when he tenses up. “Ever since that mission in Wakanda, you haven’t been the same. You’ve been more agitated, less focus, and you have been sleeping less.”

He steadies himself on one of the bathroom stall when he feels his vision getting a little blurry and his skull banging like a rocket against his head. “So that means I must be pregnant?” He pinches the bridge between his nose. “Sharon, you must know how crazy this all sounds. I’m not a carrier or trans so there is no way I can get pregnant. You know that.”

She sighs. “I read your files,” she lets out. “You checked off as a carrier. I know you wouldn’t lie about your status—”

“You read my files!” It comes out weaker than he intends. His heart trumps wildly in his chest. “That’s classified information. How could you read my files? You know I can terminate you for doing that.”

“I know that,” she says, her voice never wavering, but remaining steady all the way through. “It was accidental but I did read your file. And I know about your status. And if you must terminate me, please do so, but don’t lie to me, Everett. You’re my friend and if you’re going through a pregnancy by yourself, please let me help you. I’ve been in your situation beforeand it didn’t end so well for me,” she ends on a somber note.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He pauses for a second. “I’m not _pregnant_. If I were, I think I’d have stopped drinking three pots of coffee every day.” He laughs.

“You’re probably right.” She sighs. “Promise me you would at least go see a doctor, just to be sure?”

“I will,” he says and his voice sounds so distant, and he starts to wonder, if there is any truth to Sharon’s words. Could he possibly be pregnant? He had missed his regular monthly cycles, but given his age, he thought at the time it was due to stress and his body aging like it should.

“You alright there? You look a little queasy there.” Sharon places her hand on his back in a comforting gesture, and his eyes travel to her hand.

“Yeah. I think I’ll be staying here a little while longer than I originally planned. You should go on your lunch date with Rogers.”

“You sure? I don’t want to leave you here by yourself?” She looks at him genuinely as if she really cares about him, and in that moment, his mind wonders what if it hasn’t been Sharon, but T’Challa looking at him like that. And he almost slaps himself for thinking that.

_Stupid, stupid!_ God, he is really stupid. T’Challa is gone from his life and he needs to learn how to accept that. And even in these past four months, he still find himself hopingand wishing that T’Challa will return to him so that he will no longer have to deal with this hole in his heart.

“I’m sure,” he finally says. 

“Okay if that’s what you really wants,” she says, looking at him unsurely for one last time before she closes the door and leaves him to his misery.

He slumps to the floor, bringing his knees up to his chest, and buries his head in his lap. _Why didn’t I stop you from leaving?_ And with that, he lets the tears fall by like the dull splatter of raindrops as the rain comes to a gradual stop.


End file.
